Comments on: Congress's War On Mad Science

By: zbeast

zbeast — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:58:58 +0000

I thought all the anti-science people jumped ship when mister bush
left office.
So who should one write to complain about this bill.
Kick the Luddites out.

By: mojo

mojo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:35:57 +0000

"They called me mad at the Sorbonne! MAD!"

By: Grandy

Grandy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:01:36 +0000

Windypundit, if we are going to get Time Travel, we already have it.

By: Windypundit

Windypundit — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:31:10 +0000

I think we'll get lightsabers and manimals before we get time travel. Just sayin'.

By: PatrickKelley

PatrickKelley — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:15:05 +0000

I remember when Bush mentioned that in the State of The Union. I think in his case he was warning about where the slippery slope of genetic manipulation could lead, and so was a roundabout way of fighting the movement to overturn his decision on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Maybe that's what Brownback's intention is. Isn't a lot of research done using cells from mice, rats, and pigs, among other things? It has to be something like this, because this is obviously unreasonable fear mongering. Of course, I'm just deranged enough I'd love to see a human-animal hybrid. Maybe its the old comic book fan in me. Don't look now, but here comes Snakeman.

By: Patriot Henry

Patriot Henry — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:00:56 +0000

Bush mentioned the same "human-animal hybrids" in a State of the Union speech.

I haven't yet seen any such thing.

Perhaps the politicians know something we don't.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:12:30 +0000

Well thanks Mister Fancypants.

I'd note that the bill also criminalizes things that are likely to be impossible from now until the end of time, no matter how mad the scientist, such as creating:

a hybrid human/animal embryo produced by fertilizing a human egg with non-human sperm;

a hybrid human/animal embryo produced by fertilizing a non-human egg with human sperm;

By the time we can fertilize a human egg with cat sperm (46 chromosomes to 38), we'll have bigger concerns, such as whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms includes lightsabers, and the legislative ethics of time travel.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:04:59 +0000

I know that I am stripping the gears of tone here, but there actually are promising lines of research out there incorporating animal DNA and tissue into treatment of human ailments. There are ethical and scientific debates about the boundaries of chimerical research. However, Sam Brownback and his ilk are not aiming at such nuance. His language is carefully crafted to make voters think not of cell lines and tissue work, but of freakish human-headed beasts:

“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” said Brownback. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.”